Space Oddity
by i88
Summary: Joel Robinson didn't know what he was getting into when he befriended a friendly rocket scientist, but with each year of their five year relationship, it seems as if he's never felt closer to another person in his life. Well, as close as someone separated by an atmosphere can feel to another human being, but hey don't knock it till you try it. Joel/OC. MST3K Myster Science Theater
1. Ground Control to Major Tom

DAY 1

Dr. Sophie Robinson sang a little tune to herself as she cleaned around the lab. Interning for Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank was probably the messiest job she's ever undertaken. They're experiments alone were enough to make her stomach curdle, but on top of that their hygiene was deplorable. They'd normally have the janitors come in and clean after the mad scientist and his lackey had left, but for some reason they wouldn't go near the lab…

Oh well, that meant that she could have a little privacy and use her broom handle as a microphone. She barely knew the words to the songs she sang since as a rocket scientist she worked with machines and had to deal with listening to music over their loud noises, but that was her life and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

"You should audition for the company talent show if that's still going on."

She jumped and let out a shriek as a voice appeared out of nowhere. She looked around for the source, and turned to the monitors to find a man in a red jumpsuit chuckling at her antics on the screen.

"You scared me half to death!" Sophie said, but before she could tear him a new one, she noticed his name tag."Wait, _you're _Joel Robinson:the guinea pig?"

"Well, guinea pigs at least get a wheel to spin on so you're half right," he said with a shrug.

"This is incredible! I thought the Joel Robinson story was just a myth to scare the janitors," she said, slowly edging toward the screen.

"I'm as real as they get, baby," Joel said with a lopsided smile and laughed as she shrunk away, busying herself with finding a pen and paper.

"Don't call me that, Robinson!" she snapped, shifting through all of their research papers and data collected on Joel in her search. "So, you're stuck in space and they send you movies…oh my God; these two idiots haven't even interviewed you at all regarding the results?"

"Nope, they think their movies' effect on my noggin is interesting enough," Joel replied, knocking on top of his head.

"That changes today," she said, sitting upright with a pen and clipboard in her hand. "Tell me everything that's happened since you got there."

He leaned back onto the metallic counter. "The first day I got here…I think I just kind of wandered around; I tried to escape, sure, but how far can you get when there's no escape pod or space suit aboard? After that, I got a call from the Mads-"

"The Mads?" Sophie asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Your bosses, Forrester and Frank, but it was Forrester and Eardhart back in the day," Joel explained before continuing. "So they call me and laugh maniacally for a solid hour before they finally explain to me what the experiment is and what I had to do."

"And that's it?" she asked, looking back up at him after she finished scribbling down her basic information.

"You betcha."

"But you've been up there a full year! You couldn't have just watched movies the whole time!" she exclaimed, getting frustrated again. Sophie kicked herself away from the monitor to roll to a filing cabinet, flicking through the files.

"I'm from Minnesota; we're raised to be listeners, not big talkers," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Do you have any idea why you were shot into space in the first place at least?" she called from the other side of the room.

Joel scratched his chin, thinking it over. "Well, I guess they never liked me to begin with. I never really understood why, but I guess now that I think about it I always threw away Dr. Forrester's potato lamps."

"Why would you do something like that?" Sophie asked, wheeling herself back over to the monitor, spreading the photos out in front of her to examine.

"I just thought they were garbage! I mean, if you saw a rotting potato and a light bulb mashed together, wouldn't you throw that away?" he countered, earning a nod from the scientist.

"True, but I don't know if the punishment fits the crime," she said, rooting through the pictures for more background information. She stopped when she saw the robots.

There was one that was seemingly like a gumball machine with a silver beak and white arms, and another that was a catcher's mask spray painted gold with a long beak to match. Cambot, the camera looking one, Sophie recognized since she had worked on a model similar to it in her lab, but the purple one with large eyes was foreign to her.

"Did you build these?" she asked, holding the picture up to the screen.

He nodded and said with a large smile," Yup, and from left to right it's Tom, Crow, Cambot, and Gypsy."

"They're really impressive, but what did you make them with?" Sophie asked, scrambling to write down his responses.

"Oh, I just what was lying around…which I later found out was how I made the movies start and stop, but I'd say it was worth it," Joel said with a shrug.

After a while of back and forth, and watching his interviewer scribble down his answers, Joel asked," So what's your favorite movie?"

"I'm sorry?" Her head jerked up, her glasses sliding down her nose.

"What's your favorite movie," he repeated, absentmindedly playing with the zipper on his jumpsuit.

"I don't see how that's relevant to the experiment."

"Sure it is; we're talking about how movies affect my mind, so it's only fair that I get to ask you the same," Joel explained.

"I don't think you're aware of how an interview works," Sophie said, pushing her black rimmed glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

"I don't think you're aware of how boring your interviewee is," he said with a sheepish grin. He knew he didn't have enough to capture this scientist's attention long enough to make her want to keep talking to him, so he'd rather hear what she'd have to say and save her from his ramblings.

They quiet for a long time, the only sounds were their breathing and the flipping of Sophie's papers.

"_Wizard of Oz."_

"I'm sorry?" he asked, leaning forward as if he could hear her better.

"My favorite movie is the _Wizard of Oz_…what's yours, Mr. Robinson?" she asked, looking back up at him with a slight smile on her face.

Joel could smile in response. "_The Circus of Dr. Lao._"

YEAR ONE

Joel sat on a stool looking up at the screen as Sophie bustled around the lab trying to find a pen. Normally he'd tell her that there was one sitting in her lab coat pocket, but today she was dressed in a strapless black dress, her glasses nowhere to be seen.

"Aw, did you get all dressed up for me?" he teased, watching her whip around with her hands on her hips.

"No, Joel, I had a prior dinner engagement before I could come interview you," Sophie said quickly before looking back down to move books and strange inventions around to find a pen.

"Dinner engagement is an awfully fancy way of saying date." He folded his arms and rested in his chin on top of them, like a child watching his favorite Saturday morning cartoon.

"It wasn't a _date_; Dr. Forrester took me out to congratulate promoting me to his fulltime lab assistant."

Joel made a face. "You look too pretty to be going out on a 'dinner engagement' with Dr. Forrester."

"Mr. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me," she quoted, earning a grin from him as her cheeks pinkened.

"That depends: is it working?" His grin faltered slightly when she turned her face away from him, pretending to be fascinated with the blank page on the clipboard. "Aw, come on, Sophie, I didn't mean to-"

"This is very unprofessional, Joel," Sophie said, making a move to adjust her glasses when they weren't even on her face.

"About unprofessional as being forcibly shot into space to watch bad movies for the rest of my life?" he asked challengingly.

She clicked the pen rapidly instead, the tip popping in and out with each irritating click. "I mean, for two years I've been interviewing you but you know what? We don't even talk about the movies you're watching anymore. We talk about current events and, and, sports and when you say things like that it's….it's…"

"It's hard _not_ to fall irrevocably in love with me?" He laughed at her puckered expression.

"No, it's hard not to call you my friend," she mumbled, avoiding his gaze.

"Well, I'm already stuck up here for unprofessional reasons so why don't we just continue to be unprofessional?" he suggested. "You're doing a better job than Forrester managing the experiments anyway."

Sophie looked back up at him shyly. "You really think so?"

Joel nodded and said," Yeah, I'm losing my sanity with each of these interviews!"

"Oh, you scoundrel!"

"I'm kidding, friends can joke around can't they?" he asked.

"I guess they can."


	2. Stars Look Very Different

YEAR TWO

"Ugh, do we seriously have to go into space next week?"

Sophie's ears perked up as she momentarily paused in her task of labeling containers of green goop. She looked up to watch Dr. Forrester's green lab coated back moving around the lab like an agitated humming bird, obviously trying to come up with an alternative.

"It's an inconvenience I know, but according to the Union of Test Subjects and Guinea Pigs, a health inspection and up close observational experiment is required at least once over the course of any science project," Dr. Forrester said, holding up a thick handbook entitled _Union of Test Subjects and Guinea Pigs for __Dummies __Evil Geniuses._

"What are we going to do? That convention for mad scientists is the same week! We need that funding if we're going to keep supplying Robinson with equal amounts snacks and torture!"TV's Frank exclaimed, twisting his curl around his meaty fingers rapidly as if that would give him some sort of inspiration.

"Um…Dr. Forrester, I could go in your place." The Mad duo turned to see their assistant feebly raising her hand.

"You conduct the experiment? Don't be so absurd, Dr. Benjamin! We know everything there is to know about this field of research and Mr. Joke Bobbison so don't worry your large scientific head about these concerns," he said, trying to wave her away to do menial tasks like water their cactus or pick up his lab coats from the dry cleaners.

She felt her stomach clench as she internally laughed nervously at the idea that Dr. Forrester knew Joel as much as she did since she had been interviewing him in secret for years. This man had the privilege of speaking to him on a regular basis and _still_ didn't know his name.

"Well, think of it this way, what kind of scientists go out and shoot a man into space and don't even go to physically extract the evidence of their findings?" she said and wanted to slap herself as she took in his annoyed expression when he turned to face her.

_Can't back down now_ she thought and raised her chin a little as she continued.

"Furthermore, isn't this sending the guinea pig a wrong message if the boss comes down directly to check up on him as opposed to one of his loyal underlings? I have my basic first aid training so I'd be able to supply any medical attention and I've studied your work enough to know how to run the experiment," she said, nodding at her last statement. She pointed at the monitor, quickly adding," And if anything goes wrong, you're just a phone call away and you can observe the experiment the whole time if need be."

He stood there for a long while stroking his chin in deep thought. Dr. Forrester turned to TV's Frank and the two conversed over their decision for a while, making wild gestures to and around Sophie. After a while the turned to her and said coolly:

"Alright."

MST3K

"There's no invention exchange? But we worked on this one this week! It's a device that finds your lost keys and loses them in a different place so you have a better chance at finding them!" Joel said, holding what appeared to be a long tube with a claw attached to the end of it.

"That is such a cool idea!" TV's Frank said, but piped down when he saw Dr. Forrester's sour expression.

"No, this week TV's Frank and I have important business to take care of, certainly more important than _you and you little side show,_ and will be sending a representative in our place. You will also be getting your physical health exam as well as the one hundred snickers bars you requested as well in accordance to the union's rules," Dr. Forrester said, rattling off quickly the last bit.

"Aw, I hate the doctors!" Crow whined.

"I hope we get a lady doctor. Rwar," Tom said with a growl.

Dr. Forrester sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It's not for you, you golden beak half wit and _especially _not for the sexually confused blender."

"Hey!"

"I resent that, sir! I'll have you know that I prefer the term sexually confused _margarita blender_. There's a huge difference."

"Anyway, your film this week will be the commercially and critically awful _Grease 2_. In order to ensure there's no monkey business, TV's Frank will be periodically checking up on you two. Enjoy your terrible movie."

"Well this stinks," Crow said.

"Yeah, makes you want to destroy the establishment…"Tom said, eyeing their invention. The two proceeded to try to shove it off the table, but were of course stopped by Joel.

"Come on, guys, this can be a learning experience! It's also a chance for us to make new friends," Joel said, listing off on his fingers as the ship in question connected itself to the SOL. "Learn about actual science, see another space shuttle, or even possibly get some tips on how to watch these movies better-"

The doors clinked open, interrupting his list and in walked a dark haired women wearing a lab coat and pink heels. She carried a clip board in one arm and a duffle bag in the other, scribbling down a few notes and not looking up.

"Sophie," Joel said, a little more breathlessly than he intended, but he couldn't help it. He'd been talking to this woman for nearly three full years through a monitor and here she was right in front of him. She looked up and set her belongings on the counter, smiling shyly.

"Joel," she said, adjusting her glasses.

Sophie went to put out her hand for him to shake and he held out his arms instead to embrace her. They ended in an awkward half hug-half handshake embrace which they withdrew from laughing nervously.

"How are you-"

"Why are you her-"

"Oh I'm fine-"

"For research-"

The two laughed as they kept tripping over each other's questions. Tom and Crow exchanged a glance.

"This is more painful than judging a spelling bee," Tom whispered.

"Yeah! Wait, what's wrong with spelling bees?'

"A spelling bee for speech impediment sufferers-"

"Tom, Servo," Joel said, cutting off their ramblings," this is Dr. Sophie Benjamin; she's the one I've been-"

"Talking to her hours on end-"

"When we're trying to get our beauty sleep," Gypsy interjected as she passed by.

"Well, at least you're all acquainted already," Joel said with an embarrassed laugh, but was spared by the flashing red lights above him.

"It's the movie sign!" he cried, yanking Sophie out of the way as he and the bots scrambled to get into the theater.

MST3K

While a more recently made movie than their usually schlock, _Grease 2_ was still pretty awful. The music, acting, and story were nothing to write home about, but it still had a sort of charm that made it bearable. Also, it didn't hurt to watch it with a new guest sitting beside the janitor.

Sophie took ridiculous amounts of notes, not even watching the movie so much as she was watching Joel. In her hands was the screen play for the movie and documented each riff or groan. It was also a great excuse to watch her space age pen pal up close, as if she was still trying to convince herself that he was 100% real and not a figment of her imagination.

Of course her intense observation didn't go unnoticed.

Joel yawned loudly, his arms stretching up into the air. As he lowered them back down to rest on the theater seats, one fell snuggly across Sophie's shoulders. He looked over at Tom and Crow when he heard loud snickering.

"You're giving this movie too much credit for how funny it's trying to be, guys."

"We're not laughing at the movie, Joel."

"Yeah, we're laughing at _you_."

"So the artificial life forms have turned on their creator," Sophie said, scribbling into her notebook.

"Me? Why me?"

"Joel, its _1992 _and you just pulled the arm-reach in a theater floating in the midst of space. Could you be anymore dated?"

"Yeah, Joel! Wake up and smell the Spice Girls!"

Joel felt Sophie shake with laughter and he said," Oh come on, not you too!"

"I thought robots are supposed to bow down to their creator, but I guess yours are pretty unique," Sophie admitted, flipping through her clipboard for more data.

"Yeah, it's a pretty shotty design, but I suppose it's good enough considering the parts I used. Maybe I should of taken apart the can opener instead of the movie player, but maybe I'll get that on the next go…" he continued to ramble, thinking back to when he created his robots in the first place, not noticing that the slow smile playing on his companion's lips.

"I think they're charming."

"You really think so? Even with all the back talk and flaws?" Joel asked.

"Hey!" Crow and Tom chorused.

She nodded. "Of course, now keep your eyes on the movie, Mr. Robinson; I'm conducting an experiment."

"Yes ma'am," he said, but couldn't help but smile as he felt Sophie settle beneath his touch comfortably.

MST3K

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," she said, sticking out her hand.

He shook it firmly, his large, warm hand encompassing hers. "So it is."

The two stood in the bridge of the Satellite of Love, neither making a move to return to their lives. After a whole day together, they knew it had to end sometime. The only thing keeping them grounded in reality was the motion of their still shaking hands racking through their arms.

"This was the best expedition I've ever been on, Subject Robinson," she said pointedly, not knowing when Frank would call and check in on them.

"Well, you are a really good scientist, Dr. Benjamin," he said, scratching the back of his neck.

Sophie's tight, professional smile wavered. "Thank you, that means a lot. My findings here have been extraordinary. You're the best test subject for this experiment because you're resilient to all of our forms of torture and you possess intelligence in order to create organic intelligent robots, who have inherited your humor and positivity."

Joel held her hand tighter as he said," Tom, Servo, Gypsy, and Cambot are all parts of the equation of my sanity. You're the uncontrollable variable, if you want to put it in science terms."

"What?"

Their hands finally froze as he stared into her shining gray eyes. He took her other hand in his and said with true sincerity," When you're marooned on a satellite and there's no one but robots _you _created to talk to, you start to doubt your sanity. Sure, they're all different from me and we get along, but they're not _warm._ They don't laugh so hard they cry, they've never felt the sun, or have peanut allergies. I'm just _co-existing _with them, but with you I'm _living._ Even if it's through a monitor, I'm alive when I talk to you and I can't thank you enough-"

He was cut off when she broke free of his hands so she could embrace him, burying herself in his chest.

"I'm sorry you're stuck up here! I've talked to you for years and I always thought about how lonely you were, but I never knew in what way. I wish I could take you with me, oh god, how I wish I could!" she cried, staining his jumpsuit with her tears.

A woman's touch was such a precious thing when you were lost in space. His robot friends were affectionate in their own ways, Crow having developed a tendency to peck at Joel's face to mimic the movies they watched, or how Gypsy would wrap around him like a boa constrictor, but this was different. This was a living breathing person who cared so much about him she cried.

Joel tentatively wrapped his arms around her, stroking her back while resting his face in her hair. "Don't cry, Sophie, it won't do us any good. I wish I could go with you too, but you'd get in trouble with Dr. Forrester and then you'd probably get stuck up here too. We wouldn't want that, right?"

She looked up at him and they both wondered if the answer to that question was as obvious as they thought. After a while she let out a shaky laugh and quoted lamely," You're not weird-weird, but exciting weird."

"I gotta rep to protect," he said, laughing as he quoted back such garbage.

She laughing stopped when he reached between them to wipe some of her tear tracks away with his thumb. They had run out of words; there were twenty six letters at their disposal but nothing could possibly sum up what was rattling inside of their chests.

Sophie stared up at Joel, eyes red and half lidded trying to search for some indication of protest, which of course she found none. She threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss square on his mouth. Joel was frozen for a moment before quickly reciprocating her affection.

The art of kissing was similar to riding a bike in the way that one never truly forgot. He would have thought that years of watching people play tonsil hockey in movies obnoxiously might make him forget how kiss felt, but it just reminded him of why people kissed in the movies. There were sonnets, songs, statutes, and even wars started over love and attraction, and throughout history people want to dismiss these expressions as silly or excessive. They do this only because they forget how good love feels.

They pulled away after what felt like forever and stared at each other with goofy grins on each others faces. They were going to lean in again when they heard a muffled sob. The turned to the monitor and immediately jumped apart at what they saw. TV's Frank was crying hysterically, blowing his nose and drying his eyes with Dr. Forrester's lab coat.

He waved at them pathetically. "Don't let me stop you, kids. I'm sorry I'm so emotional, I've just never been so touched. Here I was, thinking I'd check in and say hello and what I got was a space soap opera."

Sophie was going to respond when Joel reached down to grab her hand, squeezing it reassuringly and offering a smile before turning back to the blubbering lab assistant.

"Aw, Frank, it's alright, don't worry about us," Joel said, holding up their joined hands. "We'll always be together, even if we're not in the same room, or atmosphere for that matter."

"JOEL, STOP IT! YOU'RE BREAKING MY EVIL HEART!" Frank wailed.

Red lights flashed above them, a voice stating mechanically: "Module departing in five minutes."

Sophie turned to Joel. "I guess this is goodbye."

Joel took her face in his hands. "So it is."

"Take care of yourself, okay? Tell the others I've loved meeting them," she said earnestly.

"Same goes to you, but if you could do me a favor and call my mom and tell her that I'm on a janitor expedition or something? I don't want her to worry," he said and she nodded rapidly in his hands.

"Three minutes to departure," the voice warned above them.

He leaned down and kissed her. Hard. It was the kind of kiss that a man gives his wife before he goes off to war. The kind that was given on New Years when one thought they could finally start off their year right, as if a kiss was enough to change their life. The kind of kiss that those dumb movies had, but the viewers secretly craved.

"Two minutes to departure."

They parted, looking dreamily up at one another wondering if they were just figments of their imagination.

"I'll wait for you," Sophie stated, as if this experiment would end and he would ever return to earth.

"I'll hold you to that," he said, kissing her forehead one last time before helping her into her module. She strapped herself in and set her research notes on her lap and watched as the door closed and locked itself.

Staring through the window out her module door and into the Satellite of Love, she saw Joel staring back at her, clutching his arm as if he'd been sucker punched. She reached out and pressed her palm against the pane, the coldness of space not yet frosting the window.

"One minute to departure," the voice said one last time.

Joel slowly walked over and did the same and could have sworn he could still feel her warmth. Looking around his hand, he saw tears sliding down her face, but she was smiling. He could hear her mouthing words and couldn't make out most of them, only guessing at what she was saying.

_**10**_

Good bye, Joel.

_**9**_

My life would be so plain

_**8**_

If I never met you

_**7**_

I'll get you out of there

_**6**_

Somehow

_**5**_

God I'm sorry

_**4**_

I can't take you with me

_**3**_

I'll wait for you

_**2**_

Even if it's for -

_**1**_

With a hiss, the steel door began closing and Joel jumped back so he wouldn't lose his hand. With a deafening boom the module detached itself from the Satellite of Love. He pressed his palms to the cold metal doors, resting his forehead there as well.

"You'll meet her again, Joel," Frank said, barely composing himself to speak.

Joel smiled, his eyes closed.


	3. Put Your Helmet On

YEAR THREE

"Goodnight, Dr. Forrester! Goodnight Frank!" Sophie called over her shoulder as she put down her pen.

"Goodnight, Dr. Benjamin; now, are you sure that you don't mind staying late to finish up our proposal?" Dr. Forrester asked.

"Well I did have pl-"

"Oh you're so thoughtful, I knew you wouldn't mind," he interjected, shutting the door behind him. Frank stayed back and continued clean up the props they had used in the invention exchange.

"So, what plans did you have tonight?" he asked, watching her stiffen out of the corner of his eye.

While Frank had been so moved he decided not to tell Dr. Forrester of she and Joel's relationship, Sophie still wasn't comfortable telling him any details of their relationship. It'd be years before online dating would be mainstream, and Sophie felt too silly to tell her family and friends about Joel, let alone her co-worker and his torturer.

"Oh, I was going to check in on the guinea pig from my apartment for a change, but I suppose the lab is like a second home anyway," she said, with a shrug of her shoulders before turning back to her notes.

TV's Frank was genuinely curious about their relationship, but once he finally figured out that they had been communicating at night for years he realized wanted the interview notes in exchange for his silence. Sophie accepted, omitting anything that didn't pertain to the experiment; embarrassingly, this left her with maybe ten pages of notes.

Frank waved his hand at her, batting away the idea. "It'd better if you call him from here; besides, the signal from the lab is stronger than your apartment's could be."

"True…"

"Well, if you will excuse me, I have a hot date myself tonight," he said, smiling as he gathered up his coat.

"Oh? Would I know her?"

"Maybe, if you're into Russia's Women Mud Wrestling," he said proudly heading toward the door.

"I can't say that I have, but I'm sure she's lovely. Goodnight!" Sophie said, waving as he exited.

She waited for his silhouette to disappear down the hallway before she ripped off her bulky lab coat, revealing a beautiful satin red dress with a string of pearls adorning her neck. She glanced at her reflection in the blank monitor once before pressing the call button. Sophie couldn't help but smile as her heart pounded inside her chest as it did with every phone call.

The Satellite of Love's bay was empty and dark as if everyone had gone to bed.

She glanced at her watch to see that it was eight o'clock on the dot, the same time she called him every night.

_That movie may have taken a lot out of him, I should probably hang up_ she thought, but as her hand reached towards the button to end the call Crow rushed into the room dressed in a tuxedo.

"Ms. Benjamin, don't you dare touch that button!" Crow's voice said, echoing across the bay. "We're experiencing technical difficulties, and well, to be _honest_, Joel's experiencing technical difficulties as well it'll only be a minute."

He turned his golden head to the side where someone was whispering him to him quickly. He nodded and whispered back, glancing at Sophie from time to time. When Crow finished his conversation, he turned back to Sophie and the lights came on half dimmed.

"That's better, took them long enough," he said, muttering the last bit. Tom zoomed in dressed in a tuxedo as well.

"I heard that, sir!" Tom grumbled. Crow mumbled curses under his breath as he went over the grand piano they had set up and began playing smooth, lounge music.

Tom turned back to Sophie and said pleasantly," While it took us nearly a whole grueling twenty minutes, we'd like to welcome you to the Satellite of Love Night Club; 'it's atmosphere is out of this world', if I do say so myself. Since its founding nearly half an hour ago, it's hosted many events and-"

Tom paused when he saw Joel's head pop into the frame, causing Crow to stop his playing.

"I'm sorry, did I give you your cue yet?" he asked snippily, turning to face the janitor.

"Aw, come on, Tom, Sophie's waiting and-" Joel was cut off when Gypsy's tube wrapped around him and pulled him back off screen, earning a giggle from Sophie.

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was so _rudely interrupted_, many important people have paid a visit to the Satellite of Love's Night Club such as," he continued holding up a picture of Sophie," Dr. Sophie Benjamin, one of the scientist at the Gizmonic Institute and someone who our creator, Joel, has fallen in love with. Joel is a simple fellow who has been so head over heels, he has taken to some peculiar habits."

"Peculiar habits?" Sophie asked, a black eyebrow arched.

"Ugh, where to begin? There's the insufferable singing in the shower he does in the morning, the pacing he does at night when he's waiting for your phone calls," Tom said, trying to count on his non functioning hands.

"Don't forget about the poetry, Tom!" Crow called from the piano.

"Guys! You can't tell her things like that! It's embarrassing!" Joel said, his head sticking up from the side of the frame again struggling to be free of Gypsy's grasp.

"Well, Joel, if you didn't want us to read it you should have put it in a better hiding spot," Crow countered.

"As if I knew you two would rifle through my sock drawer-" Joel was cut off again by Gypsy pulling him back.

Tom produced a poem and a pair of glasses, and cleared his throat dramatically. "I'd like to recite for you a poem taken hot off the presses from Joel's sock drawer:

_Sophie Benjamin_

_my life orbits around her_

_like a drunk planet_."

He stopped, reading over the poem again before asking Joel off screen," The hell kind of poem is this?"

"It's a haiku!" Joel called.

"You can't use that kind of language with a lady present; sorry, my dear, you'll have to pardon Joel's French," Tom said to a blushing Sophie.

"It's actually Japanese," Joel called again, sounding as if he was struggling.

"Ugh, such a wise guy," Crow said with a roll of his yellow eyes before he continued playing piano.

"Well," Tom continued as purple and pink spotlights came on across the bay," there are plenty more poems like this one lying around, but after finally reading this disgusting display, I don't want to spoil your appetite. But, all kidding aside, we are happy for both of you and to commemorate your four year anniversary, we present you with the fine dining experience of the Satelite of Love Night Club and the song styling of Gypsy!"

Tom extended his little hands towards the side where Joel and Gypsy entered. Gypsy donned a blond wig with a feather sticking out of it and a silky dress, and Joel ditched the red jumpsuit for a dress shirt and slacks, though he looked a little ruffled because of his struggle.

He tried feebly straightening out his bow tie and his hair, but stopped when he saw her beaming at him. Joel waved at her as he sat down at the counter now converted into a dinner table with a white table cloth. Cambot whirred as he cued up a record and Gypsy started singing "When you're in Love" from the movie they had watched that day _I Accuse My Parents_.

_Are you happy in your work?_

_Are you ever, ever sure?_

"It's been a while since I've been a janitor, but I can still clean up pretty good, eh?" he asked, catching Sophie nonchalantly eyeing him.

"Of course, I'm not sure why you were fired anyway," she said, rising to fetch her food from the microwave in the lab.

"Beats me; I'm pretty sure it's just because Dr. Forrester and Frank don't like me, but that's alright. They mean well with their experiment…I think," he said, scratching the back of his head. "What'cha eating?"

"Steak left over from last night and I'll also have a glass of wine, you?" she asked, cutting the steak into squares after she poured her white wine into a test tube.

"Joel will also be having steak," Tom said, placing a platter with a tube labeled "STEAK" in front of his creator. "And for dessert, a Snickers bar."

Crow came in the side and set the candy bar beside the paste before bustling off with Tom as if they had to bus other tables. Joel grimaced as he looked between his space knock off and Sophie's actual steak.

"Like what you see?"

"Of course, who doesn't like looking at a nice steak."

"Oh, I'd slap you if we were in the same room."

"I guess some things don't change in four years."

"Yeah…" She swirled around the white wine around in the test tube.

"So, anything new in the world?"

"Steely Dan reunited, there was a movie about dinosaurs that you _have _to see when you come back to Earth-"

"If I come back," he interjected, squirting the paste onto his plate and shifting it around with his spoon.

"Hey, it'll happen!" she said cheerily and he offered a half smile. "And then there's a war going on, but that doesn't really matter when you're in space, _Cheers_ is in its final season…"

As much as Joel loved to listen to current events, he couldn't help but tune her out and just watch her speak. How she almost knocked over her wine because her hands moved so much when she talked, or the way her hair looked almost jet black, probably because Crow joked about her roots the last time they spoke.

_Are you grateful you're alive?_

"Joel, are you even listening?"

He blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked what you thought about my promotion."

"Oh, I think it's great! You'll be the best at…um…"

"Being the new supervisor of the rocket division."

"Yeah that…wait that's incredible, Sophie! Does that mean you'll be building rockets all day or what?"

"Well, if you weren't too busy zoning out you would have learned that I'll have access to the blue prints of _any _rocket created and that I might have to take a couple field trips in space to collect 'data'," she said with air quotes and a mischievous smile.

"So that means you could pay a visit?" Joel asked, accepting a tube of what was labeled as "WINE" from Tom as he passed by.

"Hopefully, but that's the good news."

"Is there bad news?"

"I won't be working in this department anymore."

"And that's bad because…"

"I won't have access to this lab or any of the equipment in it, so…"

"This is our last interview, huh?"

"I'm afraid so," Sophie said, putting her fork down to run a hand through her hair, her appetite lost. "Are you mad, Joel?"

"Of course not, I could never be mad at you, I'm just…disappointed," he said, "drinking" from his wine tube.

"Oh, that's ten times worse than being mad! I'll try to rig it so I can talk to you from my apartment, but Frank's right: the signal would be too weak. I'll figure it out, I promise!"

"I'm sure you will," he said with a half hearted laugh. "You are a rocket scientist after all."

"Did you even know what my doctorate degree was for?"

"I don't know, I always thought you were some kind of love doctor or some-Ouch!" Joel winced as Crow smacked him in the side of the head with his serving tray. "Crow, what was that for?"

"Oops, my hand slipped probably from hearing the corniest line ever!"

"Yeah, Joel: just because she likes you doesn't mean you can get away with being an unromantic loon. She may leave you for a more _sophisticated_, intelligent organism."

"Aw, get out of here!" he said, shoving them away.

"Call me!" Tom said with a growl before being brushed away.

_'Cause you'll be happier in work when you're in love_.

"They're something, aren't they?" Sophie asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, they mean well; they really want you to have the best, Soph," he said, "drinking" his wine.

"They want the same for you too, Mister."

"What? The world's best bad movie watcher?"

"Tom, Servo, Gypsy, and Cambot look up to you, and so do I," she said, earning a risen eyebrow from her pen pal. "_I _certainly couldn't watch all of those movies nor would I able to create such delightful beings with whatever was lying around. Furthermore, I wouldn't be able to be chill enough to be fraternizing with the assistantof my captors."

He smiled and nodded, picking up his tube of wine and held it up to the screen. "A toast to three years of interviews."

"And to three years of long distance phone calls," she said, extending her own glass.

"Three years of bad movies."

"Three years of _laughing_ at bad movies," Sophie coaxed.

"Three years of you putting up with Tom and Crow's antics," Joel said tiredly.

"Three years of putting up with Joel's moping," Tom quipped as he passed by with another empty tray of glasses.

"Yeah, and to four years of Sophie interrupting our manly bonding," Crow said, settling beside Joel.

"Don't forget to _two _weeks of Joel practicing dinner etiquette with me for this dinner," Gypsy said, finishing her song.

"To us," Sophie said, saving Joel from further embarrassment from his robots.

"To us."

They clinked their glasses against their monitor's screens and finished the rest of their wine. A knock came upon the lab's door.

Sophie turned to face the source, asking, "What?"

"Dr. Benjamin, you said you were going to train me tonight?" a young man's voice called on the other side.

"One minute!"

She turned back to the screen, letting out a deep sigh at Joel's tight smile.

"Who was that?" he asked, trying to delay the inevitable.

"Oh him?" she asked, jerking her thumb toward the door. "That's our intern who's going to replace me for the time being. I'd tell you his name, but I always forget. He's not important anyway."

Joel chuckled at her nonchalant shrug. "If you say so."

"I have to go, Joel."

"I know."

"You know I'd stay with you till dawn if I could."

"I know."

"Good bye, Joel Robinson."

"Good bye, Sophie Benjamin."

Their hands hovered over the red buttons, inches from ending a call that took place across thousands of miles. Blue eyes met gray, both finding equal amounts of moisture and hesitation in the other's orbs. The two found themselves at a stalemate and lacked the cruelty to end the call.

"Sophie,"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know when you'll call again so I think it's best to tell you, well, _confess_ to you I suppose that even though you visited a whole year ago, it feels just like yesterday. Like, I can still feel you here, you're _everywhere_. I watch movies and find your face in every actress, I connect the constellations and find you; hell, you're even in my _oatmeal_," Joel said, laughing nervously as she smiled in return. "I guess what I'm saying is that I'm going to be so lost without you because…because…"

Her wide doe eyes bore into his as he tried to summon the remaining three words.

"Come on, dad!"

"Yeah, spit it out man!"

"I love you, Sophie."

"Oh, Joel, I love you too!" she said, tears of melancholy swimming in her eyes. Her head whipped around when she heard the door opening and she quickly looked back to Joel and said one last time," I'll find a way to talk to you again, whether it's in space or _on Earth_, I promise you!"

With that loaded declaration, she slammed her hand on the red button and the screen went dark. The blond haired assistant entered to see a red dress clad Sophie sobbing, her bare shoulders shaking.

"Dr. Benjamin, are you alright?" he asked, putting his clipboard down to lay a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be fine, Mitch," she said feebly, lifting her head out of her arms in order to face him, removing his hand.

He scratched the back of his neck gingerly. "Well, actually it's Mike-"

"Whatever," she said, wiping her eyes. She threw on her lab coat over her dress and skimmed over his clip board.

Back on the Satellite of Love, it was eerily quiet. Joel continued to stare at the dark screen, as if he was staring into the empty voids of space and it stared back. The robots were afraid to move, as if the shattered silence would cut up their creator.

"Well, how about that? She's going to rescue you, Joel!"Tom said, trying to break the silence with a light hearted chuckle.

"Yeah! Then you'll be go to the Grand Canyon and see a good movie for a change! How's that sound, Joel?" Crow asked, turning to see the janitor frozen and still staring at the monitor as if that offered all the answers to the universe.

"She hung up on me."

"Huh?"

"She hung up on me," Joel repeated, offering a single half hearted laugh. He saw the robot's concerned metallic expressions reflecting on the monitor's glass.

"Well, she had to go, but she'll come back," Crow said, quickly adding the last statement. "She promised, so she has to come back, right?"

"It's not as if she'd just forget about us in order to further advance her career, earning a steady enough income in order to settle down with some scientist who probably has more in common with her than a janitor who's stuck in space…damn it," Tom said, trying to slap himself with his non functioning hands.

Joel wiped his hands down his face, swallowing thickly. "Thanks, guys."

Gypsy came over and nuzzled him in the back, saying reassuringly," Well, no matter what, you'll always have us, Joel."

He removed his hands from his face to look into the monitor once more. Behind him was his whole robotic family, made from his bare hands and parts lying around the space ship. They unconditionally loved him, saw him as their father, creator, and friend, and Joel couldn't ask for anything better, given his circumstances.

But…

As his eyes watered, and his throat tightened, acid burned on his tongue:

_What if you guys aren't enough anymore?_

Joel swallowed the lump in his throat, patting Gypsy on the head. "Thanks, Gyps, and you guys will always have me."

_Even if it's forever_.


	4. Planet Earth is Blue

YEAR FOUR

Sophie had received a phone call.

And a call at four in the morning was never a pleasant one.

_"Hello?"_

_"Dr. Benjamin, come to the lab immediately."_

It was Dr. Forrester, sounding more neurotic and frantic than usual.

_"Sir, I don't work in you department anymore-"_

_"Never mind that; Robinson's gone AWOL and you need to track the rocket-"_

She was already out of bed by the time that mentioned Joel's name.

Sophie arrived to the lab thirty minutes with a lab coat thrown over her pajamas and rushed down to Dr. Forrester's lab to find that it was empty. The room was filled with flashing red lights and deafening sirens ringing within the walls, but Sophie persevered in order to get past the security systems and to call Cambot.

She held her breath as the phone rang.

_Ring. Ring. Rin-_

"JOEL! JOEL! JOEL! Wait who the hell are you?" she stopped her cries when she saw a blond man sitting before her, peering into Cambot as if he had never used it before.

"I'm Mike Nelson, we've met befo-"

"Never mind who you are!" she said, waving him out of the way as she saw Tom strolling around the bay. "Tom, where's Joel?"

"You just missed him, baby," Tom replied casually, ignoring the chaos and the sirens.

"What?" Sophie asked breathlessly, sitting back in the chair.

"Funny story, he just escaped through that escape pod over there after he found out that Dr. Forrester was going to kill him," Crow explained, laughing a bit at the last part as he realized how nuts it all was.

Mike popped into frame again and added," According to the tracking chip that we have on the ship here, I'm sure you have it too, I think he landed somewhere in Australia."

Tom nodded once and said," All in all, it's been quite a day for Joel and I hope he uses his new found discoveries to shape himself and the wor-"

"That idiot!" Sophie slammed her hands on the desk in front of her. She chewed her lip as her eyes flicked around the lab, her mind moving at a hundred miles per hour.

"I know, you'd think Dr. Forrester wouldn't even put an escape pod on this ship, but-" Mike was cut off again by her ranting, though it was mostly to herself.

"He doesn't even have his passport! He doesn't know anything about Australia and the climate and the aggression of Kangaroos…I gotta go!"

"Wait! Don't go! I need to get off this crazy thing!" Mike said, gripping the sides of Cambot's monitor.  
>"Never mind that, whoever you are, Joel's in trouble!" she said and reached for the button to end the call.<p>

"Don't do it-"

_Click._

"I didn't think Dr. Benjamin was so fired up; I didn't even know she and Joel knew each other!" Mike exclaimed, leaning against the counter and running a hand through his hair.

He looked down when Tom laid a white hand on his arm, saying," Son, since you'll be here a while, do I have a tale to tell you…"

_One Year Later (YEAR FIVE)  
><em>

Sophie staggered across the Australian tundra, the hot sun beating down on her as she continued her trek. Her backpack weighed at least thirty pounds with her camping and six months worth of clothing packed into it. As soon as that transmission ended a year ago, she had packed up and abandoned her life in pursuit of a man who may be alive or dead.

While it was good for Joel that the escape pod only gave out a short lived signal of its location, it was bad for both the Mads and Sophie. She was forced to comb the continent of Australia with only a hyper metal detector and her sheer determination to find him. The Mads initially wanted to track him down, but once they figured they could use Mike as their new guinea pig, the immediately forgot about "Joke Bobinson".

She settled herself down on the dirt to take a sip from her depleting canteen only to find it empty. Sophie groaned loudly and tore off her sunglasses to wipe the dust and frustration out of her eyes. She jerked her head up when she saw a bunch of kangaroos hopping over to her.

"Get out of here," she said, waving her arm as they tried to approach her. They cocked their heads to the side and one hopped up and started sniffing around her back pack.

"No, Joey, get out of here-Hey!" she said, keeling over as the same one punched her in the stomach. It used the distraction to take her back pack, rummaging through her goods. She rolled off the rock onto the ground, gripping her stomach.

"What did I do to deserve this?" she asked, looking up at the vacant, blue sky. "Do you think it's funny that I've been hiking around the outback? So you send kangaroos to tell me that I should just give up, huh? DO YOU THINK THAT'S FUNNY, WHOEVER YOU ARE?"

She jabbed a finger up at the sky accusingly before letting her arm drop over her eyes, finding she was too dehydrated to cry.

"Well, I've heard _funnier _jokes."

She removed her arm and sat up on her elbows, squinting her eyes as she looked ahead.

"Joel?"

There in front of her was Joel Robinson. He had his red jumpsuit unzipped at the top and tied around his waist, leaving him in a tee shirt that was more dirt than white.

"Oh hey, Soph,"

"But-but how did you survive?" she asked, rising to sit cross legged.

"Well, that's a funny story. You see, the pod crashed next to these kangaroos and at first they didn't like me, but once I fixed my jumpsuit," he said, motioning to his outfit," I fit right in since they thought my pouch was just on backwards. So I've been hanging around with them for a while," he replied in his usual, nonchalant manner.

"A year."

"Oh wow, a whole year? I did pretty good then! So how've you been, Soph?" he asked, extending a hand to help her up.

"How've. I. Been?" she asked, no longer just glaring at the sun.

"Yeah, that's what I said wasn't it?"

"How've you been? HOW'VE YOU BEEN?! IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE I LAST SPOKE TO YOU, AND I JUST GOT MY BACK PACK TAKEN BY YOUR KANGAROO GANG AND YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW I'VE BEEN?!" she demanded, scrambling to get to her feet.

"I knew you'd understand," he said with a grin.

She screamed and charged towards him. Her small fists beat into his chest as he scooped her up into a hug.

"JOEL ROBINSON, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Well, it is until till death do we part, right?" he asked.

She blinked several times, stopping her abuse of her beau. Her hands flew to cover her mouth as he set her on the ground. He dropped to one knee, dirtying his red jumpsuit further in the Aussie terrain and fished a gum wrapper out of his pocket.

"Sophie," he began as he started to unwrap the foil," it's no secret that I'm crazy about you and how could I not be? We've had quite a wild ride. I've known you for nearly five years and half of it was through Cambot, who was a pretty good sport for being a third wheel, but I digress."

He finally found what he was looking for and produced a single stainless steel nut, like the one from a machine and held it up for her to see. "I know this isn't much, but I swiped it from Tom and the one I'm wearing is from Crow; _they _don't know that, of course, but I'm sure they'll be happy for us."

Joel rose, wiping his forehead across his sweaty brow once and messing up his sandy brown hair in the process. He removed one of the hands from her mouth to slip the nut onto her sweaty, slim finger.

"So what do you say, Sophie?" He asked, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"I have been talking to you for a long time," she said, searching his blue eyes with hers.

"Yup."

"And I haven't dated anyone or been seeing anyone in those five years; I've basically been married to my work."

"You could say that."

"So you tell me something, Mr. Robinson: why in the hell would I come all the way to Australia _on my own dime_, quit my job, _and_ move out of my apartment with the nice balcony? It wasn't just for some guy, it was for _you_ and I almost feel insulted that you would have to ask me if I wanted to marry you; _of course_ I want to marry you," she said and smiled as he swooped down and kissed her.

He drank from her like water on a hot day, and considering how long they had been stranded in Australia, that wasn't far from the truth.


End file.
